Waking Up

9-21-09

It's simple, really. One morning I woke up in Jersey at the bedside of my best friend in a coma. One morning I work up in Asheville, North Carolina with a husband and a baby. One morning I woke up and could barely get out of bed. This morning I was woken by my four year old son. This morning I'm a single mom living in Asheville and working for an education Foundation.

Along the way, I found a bike and a new way of looking at the world. I started writing about the transformation I underwent as a result of cycling. Some of it was physical, most of it was spiritual. I'm not an expert at cycling nor am I some kind of self proclaimed guru of the two-wheel. It's just that every ride has opened my heart.

Also, I'm not a cycling bad ass. I'm still trying to get up a few hills in this town without passing out. I don't race or even commute every day. I ride when I can and work to challenge myself. This summer I've been trying my hand at mountain biking. I've just been collecting the reflections that come to me while I'm soft peddling up another insane hill. I started writing bicycle related Haiku because it just seemed like what I should do. I started writing these reflections because it seemed like the only way to stay sane.

I'm not the first person who has had their life saved by cycling. I've asked and will continue to ask friends and other cyclists to contribute thoughts, reflections and the occasional bike-ku to the mix here. Some of my reflections are about the ride and some are evidence of the perspective only available to the rider. Like these:

New morning river

Fog drift opening to sun

I no longer need

I went to the road

while riding it disappeared

No road, no bike, breathe